WE WAITED until everyone was asleep; then, we drove all night to Chicago. My mom wouldn’t know her van had disappeared until she woke at seven to get my sis ready for summer school. That first day, I worried about Sis making it to class on time, but Jenny said, “The world will go on without us.” I figured she was right. I would’ve liked to have kept going. Arizona, I guess. Maybe California. But we didn’t have the money for gas, and I figured it was best to let Jenny do the planning. She was the reason we went. I thought making the decisions might brighten her up. I never would have thought to go without her, but it’s true I didn’t like it when my mom said, “You’re spending too much time with Jenny,” or “I don’t like the way you look at her.” Sometimes my mom said nothing. When she looked at me, I got the feeling that, at fifteen, I was getting a little too big for her house. The first few days, Jenny and I stayed close to the van. Moved it from spot to spot. When we were out, we kept
Fighting Entropy One Story at a Time.